A Love Before Time
by chantecaille
Summary: LilyJames · From the 5th year onwards to the end of their lives. Starts off after JK Rowling ends it in Snape's Pensieve. Please do not read unless you want to know spoilers. I will try to make it go along to the original story.


Disclaimer: Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling's creation. I do not claim any part in inventing the characters. Only the characters I made up belong to me. Sorry if J.K. Rowling's characters are portrayed uncharacteristically according to the original text.

"A Love Before Time" by Hoyin

Chapter 1 – Underestimated

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The beginning is an excerpt from _The Order of the Phoenix_.

"Leave him ALONE!"

James and Sirius looked around. James's free hand jumped to his hair again.

It was one of the girls from the lake edge. She had thick, dark red hair that fell to her shoulders and startling green almond-shaped eyes.

"All right, Evans?" said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature.

"Leave him alone," Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of great dislike. "What's he done to you?"

"Well," said James, appearing to deliberate the point, "it's more the fact that he _exists_, if you know what I mean ...."

Many of the surrounding watchers laughed, Sirius and Wormtail included, but not Lupin, still apparently intent on his book, didn't, and neither did Lily.

"You think you're funny," she said coldly. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone_."

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Go on... Go out with me, and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

"Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch toward his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," said Lily.

"Bad luck, Prongs." Said Sirius briskly, turning back to Snape. "OY!"

But too late; Snape has directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about; a second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants.

Many people in the small crowd watching cheered. Sirius, James, and Wormtail roared with laughter.

Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, "Let him down!"

"Certainly," said James and he jerked his wand upward. Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes, he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said, "_Locomotor mortis!_" and Snape keeled over again at once, rigid as a board.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," said James earnestly.

"Take the curse off him, then!"

James sighed deeply, the turned to Snape and muttered the countercurse.

"There you go," he said, as Snape struggled to his feet again, "you're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus –"

"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"

Lily blinked. "Fine," she said coolly. "I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, _Snivellus_."

"Apologize to Evans!" James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

"I don't want _you_ to make him apologize," Lily shouted, rounding on James. "You're as bad as he is...."

"What?" yelped James. "I'd NEVER call you a – you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I'm surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK."

She turned on her heel and hurried away.

"Evans!" James shouted after her, "Hey. EVANS!"

"But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate." said Sirius.

"Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right –"

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again, hanging upside down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

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"Who does he think he is? Acting like the Minister of Magic around here!" Lily vented heatedly at her friends in the Gryffindor common room.

"Haha, but you have to admit, seeing old Snivelly's underpants is a riot!" Lily's best friend, Jessica chuckled. "And James did stand up for you." The others murmured in agreement.

"You're just siding up to him because you've got the hots for him." Lily said accusingly.

"Who doesn't?" Another friend piped in, "All James does is pay attention to YOU, the rest of us can't help but feel a tad bit jealous, don't you think?"

"I'm going to the library, I need some alone time." Lily said abruptly, leaving her friends staring at her quizzically.

"What's with her?" one whispered. "She probably got a question wrong on the O.W.L," one answered, shrugging as she continued to paint her nails with a changing color nail polish.

"You guys are so clueless." Jessica said rolling her eyes, taking out her Transfiguration book.

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On her way to the library, she took a longer route that involved crossing the grounds to reach the other side. She stopped to stare at the graceful sloping hills that lead to the gamekeeper's house. Lily dropped her books beside her, and sat down, quietly contemplating, staring wistfully at the beautiful sunset. Hazy orange and dark red swirls filled the skies, with the sun dipping lower into the horizon.

(Think hard, if you watched _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_, you know where Hermione punched Draco? It's somewhere around there -;; Behind those strange looking stones.)

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After venting most of his frustration out on Snape, James let him down, and the Marauders trooped down by the lakeside. "Why does Evans hate me so much? What have I ever done to deserve this?" He touched his cheek which Snape had grazed, there was still a light sting when he touched it, but thanks to Remus's excellent Healing abilities, he was able to clean it up.

"Lily thinks of you as an egotistically driven prat," Remus said without looking up from his book. "You should hear her go on and on about you in the common room, and during prefect duties."

"But why stand up for greasy ol' _Snivellus_?" James said, irritated. _Do I haunt her every waking moment of the day? ...and of the night?_ He thought while snickering, maybe he was finally getting through to her...or not.

"Maybe just to go against you?" suggested Sirius looking at the sunlight reflecting off the rippling water, a soft breeze gently ruffled his silky black hair to make it even more in place. A group of girls who hid behind the big oak tree sighed dreamily. The numbers in the Sirius Black Fan Club had grown drastically since the Marauders hit puberty. He turned to James.

"What should I do?" James asked helplessly.

"You got it bad for her, mate," Sirius said shaking his head, "You can only change her opinion of you, if you change yourself."

"That's something our Moony would've said! You've been spending too much time in the library, and what you guys were doing is what I wonder..." James said jokingly, trying to dodge the punches from Sirius.

"Padfoot's right, you should think about others for once, and how they perceive of you."

"Girls think I'm hot." James said simply. He knew this for a fact too, because besides the Sirius Fan Club, his fanbase was by far the largest in his entire school. Whether it's guys, wanting his Quidditch skills (maybe more than that too... but I won't say here), or the girls, who just wanted to have him. But he too, like his close friend, was unreachable. James had eyes for only one girl, that one girl who wouldn't join the other's ranks.

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They walked back into the common room to find it quite packed with people studying for their next O.W.L. the next day. Remus settled himself into a seat near an open window, and opened his book once more, proceeding to spend the next few hours studying.

"I know all this stuff already," Sirius said boisterously. "Let's go down to the Quidditch field for a bit, Prongs."

"Sure, lemme go grab my broom."

"Get mine too while you're at it!"

James sprinted up the boys' dormitory into his room, grabbed his broom and Sirius's, as he walked back down, he ran his hand through his hair, looking for one girl with a flaming head that couldn't be missed, in particular. Disappointed, he pulled Sirius by his robes away from a group of chattering girls.

"Just a few minutes more Prongs- Melissa here is telling a superbly interesting story! H-Hey! Quit pulling me-"

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"Ah – this is life," James breathed deeply as they walked onto the grounds, "No classes, just the O.W.L.s."

"You're not worried about the O.W.Ls, James?" asked Peter who had to scurry faster to keep up to their longer strides.

"Like Padfoot said, it should be a piece of cake." James said, his mind elsewhere.

"Hey isn't that Evans over there?" Sirius said pointing to a girl sitting on the grass with wavy red hair and her back towards them. That quickly snapped James out of his reverie.

"Yeah it is!" he exclaimed, awed. She was usually in the common room studying for the next O.W.L. The sunset created an illuminating glow around her, making her hair glow a brilliant orange copper.

"Evans! We were just going down to the Quidditch field, would you like to join us?" James asked trying not to sound so eager, while flashing her one of his award-winning smiles. Which never really worked on her, but it was worth a try.

Lily turned around warily to face three quarters of the infamous Marauders, blinking a few times, and then turned back towards the sky sighing.

James looked at Sirius awestruck that she hadn't pushed back his offer, Sirius's jaws dropped several inches.

"So that's a yes I presume?" He prodded.

"Must you bother me every minute of the day?" She asked tiredly, rubbing here eyes. "Where can a girl find peace and quiet?"

"In your... dormitory?" James suggested, looking confused. This was one of the few times that they had a conversation without her yelling at him.

"Oh – " she yawned blinking slower by the second, "That's right..." Lily got up to her feet and stumbled her way back to the castle. "Goodnight lads!" she added turning back for a few seconds before continuing on.

"I say she's drunk." Sirius stated, bewildered.

"I second that." Peter said. James just looked at her retreating back totally taken aback.

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End file.
